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Unwind | 
| Author: Neal Shusterman
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
List Price: $16.99
Buy New: $9.69
You Save: $7.30 (43%)
New (32) Used (10) from $8.72
Rating:  33 reviews
Sales Rank: 10105
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.3
ISBN: 1416912045
EAN: 9781416912040
ASIN: 1416912045
Publication Date: November 6, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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Product Description
In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would "unwind" them Connor's parents want to be rid of him because he's a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev's unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family's strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until theireighteenth birthday, they can't be harmed -- but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away. In Unwind, Boston Globe/Horn Book Award winner Neal Shusterman challenges readers' ideas about life -- not just where life begins, and where it ends, but what it truly means to be alive.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 28 more reviews...
Courtesy of Teens Read Too January 8, 2008
TeensReadToo.com (All Over the US & Canada)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
In his chilling new novel, Neal Shusterman paints a picture of a world where there aren't any cures and doctors, just surgeons and replacements.
Three unwanted teenagers face a fate worse that death -- unwinding. Their bodies will be cut up, and every part of them used, from their brains to their toes. But if they can stay out of the authorities' clutches until the age of eighteen, they just might survive....
The most frightening science fiction novels are always the ones that are most similar to our world. Shusterman doesn't fail to describe how a wrong solution to a modern issue can affect generations to come. Thought-provoking, terrifying, and almost inconceivable, UNWIND will keep you reading late into the night.
Reviewed by: The Compulsive Reader
Disturbing but fascinating tale February 24, 2008
Kim Baccellia, Author of Earrings of Ixtumea (Southern California)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
Imagine a society where a war was fought between Pro-live and Pro-choice. And the end result is more horrifying than either side could have thought.
Such is the premise of UNWIND by Neal Shusterman.
In the future being a troubled teen means something worse than being sent to a camp to get straighten out.
From The Bill of Life:
The Bill of Life states that human life may not be touched from the moment of conception until a child reaches the age of thirteen.
However, between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, a parent may choose to retroactively 'abort' a child...
...on condition that the child's life doesn't 'technically' end.
The process by which a child is both terminated and yet kept alive is called 'unwinding.'
Three teens find out that they are to be unwound. Conner's parents want to get rid of him as he's a troublemaker. Risa is a ward of the state and is being unwound to cut state costs. Lev is a tithe as part of his parent's strict religion.
When Conner fights not to be unwound he ends up causing an accident in which he meets both Risa and Lev. Through their journey they meet others who are against the law and help them. Lev also finds out what really happens to those who end up getting the parts of those who were unwound.
They fight to make it till their eighteenth birthday. What they all learn on this terrifying journey will haunt readers long after the finish the last page.
This story both disturbed and fascinated me. The whole idea that a society would use rebellious teens to harvest body parts is beyond belief. I stopped more than once thinking what would happen if such a law existed? Would the desire to replace damaged body parts cause someone to become so numb to how the newer parts came into existence?
Chilling, this story will make you think about your ideas of life and what it means to be truly alive.
Another Shusterman Winner November 21, 2007
Kate West (West Texas)
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
Each time Neal Shusterman writes a book, the young adult world rejoices. Each time a new Shusterman book hits the shelves, middle school teachers like myself know that he has made our job a bit easier when finding books for reluctant readers.
I heard Neal Shusterman speak at the Texas Book Festival in Austin, Texas. Because of his previous appeal with my eighth grade students, I knew I had to purchase Unwind. After hearing him speak, I know that he has the disenfranchised student at heart. My students hear this inside his novels. He speaks to them: to their hopes, fears, desires.
After buying Unwind (a couple of weeks before it hit the shelves), I had to read fast and on the sly before my students caught me with the book. Wow! This novel forces thinking. It creates an all-too-possible world in which the sanctity of human life is explored in a manner that few of us have ever thought of.
In the vein of Farenheit 451, The Handmaid's Tale, and other novels, Unwind draws upon contemporary events that confuse and frighten us as human beings, and places them in a "snow globe" environment. As the reader, we participate by "shaking" the story to try and make sense of the craziness of the world we live in today.
All in One February 1, 2008
Mette Ivie Harrison (Layton, UT USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
A lot of science fiction lacks character development. This novel definitely does not. It's got everything, the future bleakly drawn, characters you love who have terrible things happen to them and survive with style, and cool technology, plus plot twists left and right. There are some tricky political topics dealt with in this book, but I can't guess which side the author is on, except he thinks both are too extreme. Let's solve
the abortion problem and the organ donor shortage in one fell swoop. We wait until we know how the kid is during the teenager years! Then if they're useless, get rid of them and make sure their parts are passed out to others who need them!
 Many flaws July 14, 2008
James R. French (Redlands, CA)
4 out of 12 found this review helpful
Unwound is an interesting premise, but the book itself has far too many holes in it to be enjoyable. My biggest problem with the story is the fact that the premise of the is simply too unrealistic. The thought that within 100 years or so that the human race would become so indifferent towards a living person that they would allow him to be carved up for parts against his/her will is just too far of a reach.
It is a terrifying prospect, to have your life taken from you while young, and one that has been previously addressed in stories such as Logan's Run. The difference is that Logan's Run was set in an indeterminant time, so far in the future that it was essentially an alien culture. If Unwound had been set 500 years in the future or perhaps in an alternate reality, the story might have worked better.
The book seems to try too hard to provoke thought about the right to choose/right to life debate. Also, there are several instances where you can see plot points and and complications coming from a mile away. Foreshadowing is one thing, but to be so ham-handed in technique is disappointg.
Just so that this isn't a totally negative review, I did enjoy the evolution of the two lead male characters, though again it was pretty obvious about where things were heading.
This book might be enjoyable to younger readers who can look past the short comings or who might be more startled by the "coming to get you" premise. But for older readers, adults, or those who enjoy a good Sci-Fi yarn, you are going to be disappointed.
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